Slow cookers are great for having a hot meal ready when you come home, but if you work a long day, your slow cooker may cook a little too quickly. Reader gMan's advice: try a light timer for perfectly slow-cooked meals.

I love using a slow cooker while I'm at work and coming home to a hot meal, but I'm gone about 10 hrs, which is longer than my food should cook. My cheap slow cooker has no timer, so I plug it into a cheap Christmas light timer set to start an hour after I leave in the morning and turn off an hour before I get home.

I prep everything the night before and leave it in the fridge, so when I take it out in the morning it stays cold until the cooker turns on. Other hazards accompany cooking with no one home, but with a little forethought you can avoid problems and gain delicious meals.